192 WILD ANIMALS. 



plain of some entirely new and unparalleled injustice about to be 

 done Mm. In a "word, he is from first to last an undomesticated 

 and savage animal, rendered serviceable by stupidity alone, with- 

 out much skill on his master's part or any co-operation on his 

 own, save that of extreme passiveness. Neither attachment nor 

 even habit impress him ; never tame, though not wide-awake 

 enough to be exactly wild. 



" One passion alone he possesses, namely, revenge, of which he 

 furnished many a hideous example, while in carrying it out he 

 shows an unexpected degree of far-thoughted malice, united mean- 

 while with all the cold stupidity of his usual character. One in- 

 stance of this I well remember ; it occurred hard by a small town 

 in the plain of Ba'albec, where I was at the time residing. A lad 

 of about fourteen had conducted a large camel, laden with wood, 

 from that very village to another, at half an hour's distance or so. 

 As the animal loitered or turned out of the way its conductor 

 struck it repeatedly, and harder than it seems to have thought he 

 had a right to do. But not finding the occasion favourable for 

 taking immediate quits, it ' bode itS' time,' nor was that long in 

 coming. A few days later the same lad had to reconduct the 

 beast, but unladen, to his own village. When they were about 

 half-way on the road, and at some distance from any habitation, 

 the camel suddenly stopped, looked deliberately round in every 

 direction to assure itself that no one was within sight, and, finding 

 the road far and near was clear of passers-by, made a step forward, 

 seized the unlucky boy's head in its monstrous mouth, and lifting 

 him up in the air, flung him down again on the earth, with the 

 upper part of his skull completely torn off, and his brains 

 scattered on the ground. Having thus satisfied its revenge, the 

 brute quietly resumed its pace towards the village as though 

 nothing were the matter, till some men who had observed the 

 whole, though unfortunately at too great a distance to be able 

 to afford timely help, came up and killed it." 



"We have inserted this story exactly as it is narrated, and no 

 doubt the main incidents were just as Mr. Palgrave states, and 

 are certainly sufficient to prove that individual camels can develop 

 treacherous and savage traits. Travellers, however, destroy the 



